End to the Attacks on ATIK! Release of Those Arrested!

On April 15 the German police arrested 7 ATIK members in a simultaneously executed violent raid on several houses. This operation was not only restricted to Germany but also jumped to Switzerland, France and Greece lead to the arrest of one person in Switzerland, one in France and 3 in Greece, with a total of 12 persons arrested. This operation was executed by violating European and international laws.

This operation and the arrests are based on the “Anti-terror” laws 129a and 129b by the German Ministry of Justice. This law is one that was enacted under the pretext of the attack on the ‘twin towers’ in 2001, with the US directly or indirectly organized, and being imposed on Europe and on other countries in the world. This law is a state terror law that aims to intimidate and repress and attack the working class, toilers and social opposition nationally and internationally.

As is well known ATIK is neither a new organization nor a front organization. It is a migrant workers organization that came forth after the workers migration from Turkey to Germany. Its organization goes back to mid 70’s. It is nearly half a century. For years it continued firmly under the name of ATIF and together with other workers organizations in Europe in 1986 it became a confederation as ATIK. It is a democratic mass organization that encompasses political refugees who fled the military fascist junta in Turkey but the main core of the organization is comprised of workers. ATIK, with becoming a confederation that has become a legal, judicial, democratic, independent organization that over a quarter of a century is defending democratic rights and freedoms. It is an organization of which its federations work within the legal frames of the countries they are in.

ATIK is an anti-imperialist, anti-fascist, anti-militarist anti-imperialist organization of democracy and freedom struggle of migrant workers and toilers from various nationalities in Turkey;

ATIK is an organization that has supported, the democratic rights and freedoms struggle of the working class and toilers in the countries present and stood by this struggle and took joint actions;

ATIK, is an organization that has stood by and supported the struggle of youth from Turkey and local youth with their academic, democratic rights and freedoms struggle, it is an organization that has fought against youth being habituated and encouraged to drug abuse, and against degeneration of the youth;

ATIK is an organization that takes a stance and struggles against all forms of rights inequality, against repression and violence on women and children;

ATIK is an organization that opposes and fights against all forms of repression, violence and injustice against LBGTI individuals;

ATIK is an organization that expresses its political, practical and democratic reaction, as a prerequisite of its existence, against all forms of racism, fascist, sharia organizations;

ATIK, is an organization that struggles against all forms of discrimination and xenophobia, all forms of nationalism, racism, chauvinism and the ideologies Nazism and Neo-Nazism that these are based on;

ATIK, is an organization that has taken a stance against the NSU and the murders committed by them, has worked to expose this case using its democratic rights;

ATIK is an organization that expresses its democratic response against PEGIDA which is a new version of xenophobia, nationalism, racism instigating fascist organizing;

ATIK is an organization that has taken a strong stance against reactionary, fascist paramilitary murdering gangs such as Al Qaida, Al Nusra, IS, Boko-Haram, Al Shabab as. and expressed its democratic response and has stood by the people suffering from the violence of these organizations;

ATIK, being against the reactionary fascist dictatorships in the Middle-East has also been against reactionary, fascist organizations. It has shown its democratic stance against the massacre of the Christian and Ezidis population of Shengal by the IS which is one of these reactionary, fascist sharia organizations.

ATIK, has strongly opposed the massacre committed by IS in Rojava and its attack on Kobane and the Kurdish people and other minority nations. To support the liberation of Rojava and Kobane with moral and material support within the limits of its possibilities it has continued to stand with them.

ATIK is an organization that has condemned the massacres against the Kurdish nations which despite of these massacres has been able to maintain its national existence, the Ottoman and the Turkish states Armenian genocide, the massacre on the Turkish Greeks and the expulsion of those who remained behind, the assimilation of the Arabs.

ATIK has always defended the self determination right of nations under all conditions, has defended the rights and freedoms of occupied nations, has defended the rights of nations and minorities of under national repression and has supported the movements struggling for these rights. Therefore, it has unconditionally defended the right of self determination of the Kurdish people in Turkey, has opposed and stood against the repression and restriction of rights of national and minorities.

ATIK has opposed unjust wars. It has stood against the occupation of countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen as., and supported the workers, toilers and oppressed peoples of these countries as a condition of its existence.

ATIK is an organization that has taken a strong stance against the mass massacres and genocidal attacks, repression, isolation and embargo’s of the Israeli state against the Palestinian people and against the fascist terror.

ATIK has stood by the struggles of the working class, toilers and the peoples waging national liberation struggles regardless where in the world, from the Philippines, India, Africa, Middle-East and Latin-America.

ATİK is one of the organizations of migrant workers and toilers of different nationalities from Turkey. ATİK is a democratic organization of this segment. And is an organization that entirely works within the legal and democratic base. In respect of this political base, its stance and legitimate practice, an attack on its activists working within this framework is unacceptable.

Whilst financing religious, sharia gangs, and gangs who are enemies of the people like IS and the Salafists being supported, it is incomprehensible hat democratic mass organizations such as ATIK who act in full legality, there is no just and humane values in this.

It is evident that those arrested ATIK members and activists have been arrested resulting from a secretive negotiation between the Turkish and German states. We are curious to find out with what serious charges they will be charged. All of these individuals have legal status in the western European countries they live in. Some of them are workers, some doctors and some are political refugees. Their residences are known and they would have gone to the police had they been summoned to give a statement, they would have.

We ask the German Ministry of Justice and the German police who executed this operation: Have these people killed anyone in Germany? Have they robbed a bank? Have they committed a massacre? Have they committed sabotage? Were they headed to a violent protest? Were they carrying guns and explosive for the purpose of an attack etc? The German police cannot reply positively to any of these questions.

The only reference the German Ministry of Justice has is that some of those arrested have carried out activities for TKP/ML and have been imprisoned for tens of years.

For example:

Müslüm Elma: He is one of our comrades who was captured in Diyarbakir (Amed) during the first days of the September 12 1980 fascist military dictatorship. He was put through the most horrific torture for approximately 6 months in the regions of Antep, Adana, Elazığ, and Diyarbakır. In the notorious Diyarbakir nr. 5 E-type prison, no less than the torture dungeons of the police, where the most horrifying repression and torture took place, he stayed in death fast for over 2 months in 1984 and this severely damaged his health. In a total he was imprisoned for 22 years and with a report of the Forensic pathology stating that he cannot continue live in prison he was released. He’s health issues are increasing also in Germany and he is under continuous doctors monitoring.

Haydar Bern: lives in Germany for approximately 40 years, is retired, past 65 years, precarious health situation needing medication for heart disease and hypertension.

Mehmet Yeşilçalı: He was arrested during the 12 September 1980 military junta; he was put through severe torture while being heavily wounded. He then was imprisoned over 15 years in Diyarbakir and Sağmalcılar prisons.

S.Ali Uğur: in 1992 he was arrested by the police and was put through severe torture. He joined the indefinite hunger strike and Death Fast against the transition to the F-type prisons in Turkey. He stayed in fast over 200 days followed with severe health issued he was released through a report from the Forensic Pathology.

Sami Solmaz: He was arrested in February 1994 and suffered severe torture. His health deteriorated strongly due to the hunger strike in 2000 during the transition to the F-type prisons and he was released from prison with the report of Forensic Pathology.

Erhan Aktürk: Because of his political activities in Turkey he came to Germany early 1990’s and sought asylum there.

If this is the only ‘wrong’ the arrested once have done, besides three of them the rest are known to be charged with the TKP/ML case in Turkey and have been imprisoned for tens of years and based on this they were granted asylum by Germany, Switzerland and France. This was a known by the courts in all these countries. And as a result of these statements they have gained their asylum status. Whilst each one of them have been living in Germany, France and Switzerland 10, 20 or more years, it is entirely a legal scandal that they have been arrested on orders of the German Ministry of Justice.

The western countries and Germany state on every occasion that they are the cradle of democracy. However when their history is observed, it is one of the police states that acts most viciously on left, socialist and social opposition. We know that they are nothing like the way they portray themselves, that they attack German revolutionaries in and outside prisons, that they attack social opposition and migrant organization with intervals. This last attack is the newest link to this… We call on all the progressive, revolutionary, democratic organizations and individuals to oppose these repression, injustice and unlawful attacks…